Cuomo: ‘Climate change is a reality…we are vulnerable’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo doubled-down on his suggestion yesterday that climate change is responsible for the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, and said there should be more conversation about “a systemic solution long-term, because this is really a long-term issue.”

“It’s a longer conversation, but I think part of learning from this is the recognition that climate change is a reality, extreme weather is a reality, it is a reality that we are vulnerable,” Cuomo said. “Climate change is a controversial subject, right? People will debate whether there is climate change … that’s a whole political debate that I don’t want to get into. I want to talk about the frequency of extreme weather situations, which is not political … There’s only so long you can say, ‘this is once in a lifetime and it’s not going to happen again.”

“The frequency is way up. It is not prudent to sit here, I believe, to sit here and say it’s not going to happen again,” Cuomo continued. “Protecting this state from coastal flooding is a massive, massive undertaking. But it’s a conversation I think is overdue.”

Cuomo spoke Wednesday afternoon at a briefing on ongoing Sandy-related recovery. He was joined by Joe Lhota, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, as well as Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who is frequently mentioned as a potential Republican opponent for Cuomo in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

The state’s death toll now stands at 26, Cuomo said. Commuter trains into Manhattan from Long Island and Westchester, home to suburban enclaves just north of the city, will begin this afternoon in a limited fashion. Some Subway service will be restored Thursday morning, but trains will not run between downtown Brooklyn and train stations in the middle of Manhattan — Penn Station at 34th Street and Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street. Details are available at the MTA’s website.

The officials had just concluded a helicopter tour of damaged areas, some of which Cuomo described as “apocalyptic.” Schumer said the scenes in Queens’ Breezy Point neighborhood — ravaged by fire as well as flooding — resembled London or Dresden at the end of World War II.

Schumer also steered the briefing toward a political subject, saying he was calling on the federal government to reimburse 90 percent or more of the costs of public recovery efforts — road reconstruction, police overtime, etc. — as opposed to the prescribed 75 percent.

“There will be some in Washington who say we shouldn’t do this,” said Schumer. “We expect everybody – Democrats, Republicans, people from everywhere around the country — to rally by our side … We cannot cut corners. We cannot count nickels and dimes. This is not just a New York disaster, a New Jersey disaster, a Connecticut disaster — this is a national disaster and it needs to be treated that way.”

On the subject of climate change, Schumer said there was “a group of people in Washington who just deny the truth.”

“We’re going to pay a price for the change in climate in one of two ways. We’ll either have to totally re-adapt our city…or we can take the bull by the horns and deal with the issue,” he said.